Business Standard: Nagpur: Saturday,
October 22, 2016.
The Bombay
High Court has issued notices to Maharashtra's former Deputy Chief Minister
Ajit Pawar and NCP MLC from Yavatmal, Sandip Bajoriya, in a PIL alleging
irregularities in irrigation projects in the state's Buldhana and Amravati
districts.
A Nagpur
bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Atul Chandurkar on Thursday
directed them to reply before November 25, the next date of hearing in the
case.
The
petitioner, Atul Jagtap, alleged that contracts for completing the Jigaon and
Lower Pedhi projects, in Buldhana and Amravati respectively, were awarded to
the MLC's Bajoriya Construction Company at the behest of Pawar during the
earlier Congress-NCP rule.
Jagtap filed
an application seeking to add Pawar, who was then state irrigation minister,
and Bajoriya, as respondents.
The cost of
the Jigaon project rose to Rs 5,700 crore from Rs 394 crore in 15 years. The
cost is expected to further cross Rs 7,000 crore by the project's deadline in
2019.
He also
sought constitution of a high-powered committee to investigate the alleged
corruption and illegalities in allotment of tenders to Bajoriya's firm.
The PIL
alleged that tender conditions were tweaked to favour the construction firm
controlled by Bajoria, a big name in irrigation construction sector, allegedly
at the behest of Pawar. Bajoria's firm got the contract for both the projects
only due to his proximity with Pawar, the PIL alleged.
The
petitioner, who obtained details under the RTI Act, alleged that forged and
fabricated documents were submitted by Bajoria to meet the eligibility
criterion.
The PIL also
slammed the respondent contractor firm for not completing project work despite
availing mobilisation advance from the Vidarbha Irrigation Development
Corporation.
Work order of
Jigaon project was issued in 2008-09 while that of Lower Pedhi was issued way
back in 2006-07.
Till date the
work was not completed, the PIL claimed while demanding high-level probe into
the irregularities and scrapping of the tender process and issuance of new
tenders.
Advocate
Shridhar Purohit appeared for the petitioner.
The Bajoria
construction firm was represented by advocates Pravin Deshmukh and NB Kalwaghe.